The Lovelorn Ninja
by Sagefox9
Summary: Naruto finally gets Sakura. Betrayal occurs and Naruto leaves the village returning a different man. Summary sucks just read it. NaruSaku
1. Chapter 1

The Lovelorn Ninja

"Talking"

'Thinking'

(Kyuubi/InnerSakura)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (but a man can dream can't he)

Author's Note: This is my first story tell me what you think. There will be no lemons in the foreseeable future maybe just before and after's. Thank you Kishimoto-san for creating Naruto. Rated MA for violence language and slight lemons

"The restaurant was filled with talk and laughter." Sakura was sitting at the table with her friends Ino and Hinata." Well guys I have to go home now." Sakura said with a yawn.

"Are you sure you want to go home alone this late? We'll leave in an hour." Ino asked." No, I have to get home or I'll get in trouble."

Well then be careful." Hinata said with a smile. "I will be." Sakura said waving goodbye to her friends. As Sakura walked home she saw some shady characters walking a distance behind her. She looked back worriedly just to be safe she sped up but, they did too. Then she broke into a run with them close behind.. Now she was running for her life knowing what would come next. As she turned into an alley she glanced behind and saw the men right behind her. She was met with a dead end and saw the men closing in on her as she was forced back into a corner. She screamed out, "Please someone help me!" Naruto who was on the other side of the building at Ichiraku's heard the cry of his beloved crush and leapt over the wall to save her. As the first man started to tear off Sakura's clothes Naruto landed on him, hard. The kyuubi's chakra activated changing Naruto's eyes to slits scaring the rest of the would-be attackers shit-less. He was pissed.

"Oh shit that's Naruto, the guy who kicked pain's ass and saved the village! We're dead." One the men said backing away.

"You motherfuckers! How dare you try and hurt my teammate!" Naruto growled. "W-we didn't know, please don't kill us!" Begged one of the men falling to his knees. Naruto looked behind him she was in the corner frozen in shock. "What you did was unforgivable!"

"C'mon guys there are six of us and only one of him he can't beat us all!" cried one of the men trying to sound braver than he felt. Then the fight commenced by the end of it the men lay there on the ground defeated but not dead, they had gotten some good hits on him, he was bleeding badly but he had to check on Sakura. He walked over to her, "Sakura, you okay?" He asked with concern but she didn't reply she just sat there huddled in the corner with her eyes tightly shut. Next he tried to pick her up but she couldn't tell who it was with her eyes closed so she lashed out and hit him right in the face, he didn't even try to stop her. "Sakura." He said her name with such care she opened her eyes to look into his deep sapphire eyes and she instantly calmed down. "N-Naruto." She said his name in a whisper and permitted him to pick her up and carry her to the hospital. As soon as he made it through the doors nurses took Sakura from him but, before anyone could react he fell to the floor unconscious.

Naruto awoke later to the sound of crying. He looked to his left and saw Sakura crying, her face buried in her hands. "Sakura?" He sat bolt upright reopening his wounds. "Gah! Ow! What the hell!" Sakura looked up surprised and jumped onto Naruto and hugged him. "Naruto! You're okay!" She quickly let go realizing she was forcing more pressure on his wounds. "Well of course I'm okay, why? Did I get hurt? But are you okay?" He asked concerned. "I'm fine just some cuts and bruises, you were stabbed a few times." "But there's blood on your shirt." He said.

"It's yours." Naruto noticed she looked downcast.

"Sakura? What's wrong?"

"You had to protect me again while I was laying there like a weakling." Naruto gave her a hard look, "Sakura stop beating yourself up over this, as long as I'm around I'll protect you with my life." He ended his signature smile, but there was something about his smile that always made her smile, and forget her own problems. "Thank you Naruto, I really needed that. But since you were nice enough to protect me the least I can do is to take you out for your favorite ramen. You know, like a date."

"Huh! A-a-are y-you serious!" Naruto said with great incredulity. At this point Sakura was blushing furiously; she was cherry red as she nodded swiftly. "S-so when do you want to go?" He asked. "How about we go tonight around seven?" Sakura asked still very red.

"That sounds great!" Naruto exclaimed, he couldn't believe he was going to go on a date with the girl he loved so dearly. He wanted to run to the rooftops and yell his luck to the world. Sakura left after their conversation to get ready for the date. After Sakura left Tsunade had burst inside the door.

"Naruto! I heard what happened. Are you alright? Is Sakura alright?" He put up a hand stopping her questions immediately. "Sakura is fine she left earlier." I'm fine as well." Tsunade sighed calming down.

"Well then Naruto I owe you thanks for protecting her." Naruto nodded.

"Well you know me, I'll protect everyone who's dear to me especially her." Naruto ended boldly. Tsunade nodded in approval, she gave him a hug and left. Naruto was let out of the hospital shortly after. He quickly hurried home to get ready for the date. As soon as he was ready he went off to Ichiraku's for his date with Sakura.

When he made it to Ichiraku's he saw Sakura was already there, he was stunned by what he saw. Sakura was standing there staring at him as well, but he didn't notice; he was too distracted by what she was wearing, a pink kimono that was lined with white petals from a cherry blossom, it matched her hair perfectly. She also had a jade necklace in the shape of an ornate flower that matched her eyes. He realized he was gaping when some drool was about to fall out of his mouth, but he quickly shut it.

(She's beautiful isn't she?) Kyuubi pointed out.

'Yes she sure is' Naruto agreed. Sakura was staring at Naruto, he was wearing a kimono that looked like the cloak he had worn when he fought Pain. His eyes were gleaming in the evening sunset.

(Wow he's hot! You going to kiss him? If you don't I will.) Inner Sakura said devilishly as she had interrupted her thoughts,

'Why must you always come in with perverted thoughts' Sakura thought dismally.

(I'm part of you, albeit the more perverted side admit you're a closet pervert and I'll stop) Inner Sakura taunted. 'Don't make me come in there and strangle you.' Sakura threatened.

'But no I'm not gonna kiss him he's only a friend, I'd like to see YOU try and kiss him, and I'll admit he is hot.' Then she realized he was staring at her too, she blushed at the fact. "Like what you see?" She joked. Naruto snapped out of his reverie, he could only nod. She was caught off guard at this but giggled at his foolishness. Then as soon as Naruto regained his composure they went inside.

"Welcome! Why Naruto, it's you what happened the other day you just left." Said the restaurant owner and cook Teuchi. Then he noticed that Naruto was with someone.

"Well who is this young beauty, your little girlfriend?" He said grinning towards Sakura while wiggling his pinky making the two blush.

"Hey Gramps, sorry something came up. This is my friend Sakura." Teuchi's eyes darkened. He had heard Naruto talk about this girl many times, usually they would be about how she loved Sasuke and would never acknowledge him no matter what he did to impress her, and of how she would constantly break his heart." Ayame, come take Naruto and his friends' orders." A young girl stepped out from the back room, and saw Naruto. And a smile broke out on her face.

"Hi Naruto. How are you today?" She said completely ignoring Sakura; she had heard who this girl was. Sakura noticed that Ayame seemed to be flirting with Naruto as their conversation progressed; she also noticed that she was getting dirty and jealous looks when Naruto wasn't looking.

"Oh yeah Ayame this is Sakura." Naruto said.

"I'm fully aware of who she is I heard dad ask you. Hey Naruto can you go into the back and get more chopsticks we're running low up here, you do know where it is right?" She asked as he went into the back room.

"I've been here long enough to know where everything is, it would be a shame if I didn't especially since I work here part-time." Naruto said matter-of-factly. "I didn't know you worked here." Sakura said.

"Yeah, but it's not like anyone cares." As soon as Ayame was sure Naruto was out of earshot she turned to Sakura glaring at her.

"I still don't see what he sees in you." Ayame said.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked confused.

"I'm talking about Naruto, he always talks about you saying how much he likes you but you won't acknowledge him but he always praises you saying how smart you are, how strong you are, how beautiful you are. He has only good things to say about you but he also says you always put him down when you were younger, that you would never acknowledge him or how you always went after Sasuke and never saw how much he secretly did for you, but now he has finally accepted that you will always be Sasuke's so don't you dare try to lead him on and break his heart again." She finished with a glare. At this Sakura was stunned, did Naruto really like her that much? He would always ask her out but she would never take him seriously and always punch him through some wall.

"So all the times that he asked me out were sincere, and not to anger Sasuke by winning me away? He was the one that always protected me? But what do you mean by he did things for me secretly?" Sakura asked. Ayame sighed at this girl's ignorance.

"He gave you flowers and gifts saying they were from a secret admirer but you always thought it was Sasuke, some enemy nin tried to break in to kidnap you because of your medical abilities but Naruto saw what was happening and captured them and even interrogated them before turning them in without you noticing after that he stays outside your house for a while every night in case it happens again." She said. Sakura just sat there thinking over everything that Ayame had said. While Naruto who had found the chopsticks quickly had heard the entire conversation, even Teuchi had heard but inside his head he was hoping Naruto wouldn't overreact that Ayame had Sakura everything he had told them in trust of confidentiality. Naruto was furious with Ayame for telling Sakura everything he would have to talk to her later, for now he went out feigning ignorance.

"Hey guys got the chopsticks. Sakura you ready to order?" She nodded. "Alright Ayame I'll have the usual."

"I'll have a miso ramen." Sakura said all too politely. Ayame left behind the curtain leading to the back room and gave Teuchi the order.

"So Sakura, anything interesting to talk about with Ayame?" He asked trying to confront her without making it seem so.

"Just some girl stuff." She said trying to play him off. 'Did he hear?' She thought to herself. Naruto was disappointed she wouldn't say anything but decided not to push it right now. While they waited for their ramen they caught up and talked about training and recent missions. Sakura missed talking to Naruto; they hadn't seen much of each other since end of the fourth great shinobi war which was also when Naruto brought Sasuke back. It was as if they were drifting apart and seeing less and less of each other, Naruto had even stopped trying to get Sakura to go on a date with him. She figured now might as well be as good a time as any,

"Naruto how come I don't see you around anymore?" She asked.

"Well I've just been training a lot in the forest I rarely come home now." He was half lying he had been working his ass off in the forest but he was also avoiding her so he wouldn't have to see her with Sasuke one day. "Naruto, do you remember the day you brought Sasuke home?"

"Yeah." How could he forget she was all over him and he was forgotten.

Flashback

The Great War had just ended and people were still picking up the pieces of their broken lives. Two figures limped towards the village gates of Konoha; one had to lean on the other to be able to stay up right.

"Heh, looks like I did keep my promise after all, right Sasuke."

"Shut up Dobe." Naruto victoriously smiled, Sasuke had to give the guy some credit fighting in a war then immediately taking him on afterwards and still winning. Sakura had been waiting at the gate ever since Naruto had gone after Sasuke and that was about two days ago and she couldn't stop from worrying. 'Please come back to me, both of you.'


	2. Chapter 2

Next Chapter

**AN: FORGIVE ME! I'm sorry it took me a year to put up a chapter guys. I was having problems with Microsoft Word, and The World's Last Gentleman referred me a website but ironically that same day it started to work -_-' so thanks anyways man. But if it stops working again I'll go back to the site. And a special thanks to dbzgtfan2004, Master390, and brycelke respectively for being the first to review, author alert, and favorite the story. Finally I would like to address some things for the story; yes the characters will most likely be OOC with some OC's in there too. Most of the action and angst doesn't really start until later. So hang in there. Merry Christmas folks, Sagefox9 OUT.**

Tsunade walked up behind Sakura and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura go home and get some rest we'll get you when they come back. That goes for all of you." She added as the rest of the Konoha Thirteen came from various hiding spots.

"Were we that easy to find?" Sai asked.

"Yes, look I know you all wanted to go after those two but we can't afford to risk losing some of our best ninja."

"But we have to help them, they're our friends! At least Naruto is." Shikamaru said in a rare display of actually trying to go out and do something. Tsunade just shook her head.

"So are you going to go get some rest Sakura?" Sakura just shook her head," No Shishou I'll just stay here for a while. Well she tried but the girl was as stubborn as Naruto, it would just come down to when those two would get back. Then she heard Sakura gasp, "It's them! She screamed pointing her hand towards the distance. Everyone's heads turned to the point where Sakura's hand was pointing and Neji activated his Byakugan.

"Yeah it's them for sure, they seem to be talking but it's too far away to make out."

"Let's let them talk in private." Tsunade spared a quick look at Sakura; she looked like she wanted to run straight there as she shifted from foot to foot impatiently. Tsunade put a hand on her shoulder, Let them talk first and get things out of the way." Sakura gave her a nod and waited with her friends.

"Sasuke, I need to talk to you." Naruto said as they trudged along foot by foot and Sasuke leaning on Naruto for support.

"Talk." He sighed tiredly.

"It's about Sakura, when we get to the village I want you to treat her better, not like some piece of trash the way you used to. But if you really just have to be an ass then you can take it out on me. And no escaping." He added as a joke.

"Trust me I will, especially for bringing me back. I won't be making any promises about Sakura. But I won't be escaping any time soon." Sasuke said leaning more on Naruto. The fight had really drained him. By the time they got to the gates and relaxed only to be tackled to the ground by a pink blur, a wet pink blur. Naruto and Sasuke looked to see a crying Sakura on top of them. Naruto's eyes softened, he put a hand on her back comfortingly, after shooting Sasuke a glance he reluctantly put a hand on her back too. When Sakura felt Sasuke comforting her she switched over to completely hugging him leaving an uncomfortable Sasuke and a disappointed Naruto. As the team helped each other up they were surrounded by their friends and Sakura immediately went to work healing Sasuke's wounds. While Sakura was healing Sasuke the rest of their friends were sizing him up making him feel vulnerable while Naruto just smirked. Then it happened, as soon as Sakura had finished healing Sasuke she gave him a kiss on the cheek shocking everyone, but none other than Naruto and Sasuke were shocked the most. Sasuke looked in Naruto's direction only to see him shunshin away followed by the Hokage. Nobody else noticed even Sakura was too busy hugging Sasuke. A minute later the ANBU came and took him to the interrogation room. And it wouldn't be pretty.

Naruto was walking around sullenly while having a conversation with his tenant.

"**C'mon Kit, stop being a sullen bastard, he gave you a hug too right?"** Kyuubi tried to cheer Naruto up. The two had reached an understanding long ago, especially when Kyuubi had Naruto about how he was under the control of Madara when he attacked the village. And about how he didn't want anything to do with hurting Kushina or her family. Their relationship was that of brothers, sometimes even father and son. This happened to be a father-son moment.

'Yeah she did. But so what huh? She kissed Sasuke on the cheek. I didn't even get a thank you.'

"**So what, it's just the cheek. It doesn't mean anything."**

'No Kyuubi, it does mean something to me. That kiss was all the proof I need to know who she picked. Besides what would you know about love?" He said sullenly.

"**You ass I'm just trying to help but you say I don't know about love. If you'd seen me before I was sealed I was getting some everyday bwahahaha!"** Father-son moment ruined.

"Naruto?" The person in question turned around to find Tsunade looking at him with concern.

"Hello Tsunade." She blinked.

"What, no Baa-Chan?" She teased.

"No, not today." He tried to smile but he faltered.

"Here let me heal your arm, while we talk." She said gesturing towards his burned arm. In truth he had completely forgotten about it until now. As soon as she went to work he waited for the talk he'd been dreading since he saw her.

"So then, how do you feel about what just happened?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"C'mon Naruto, I saw your face and you were distraught. You should know that just that little kiss on the cheek means nothing." At this Naruto let out a small laugh.

"What?" She asked confused.

"Well before you came Kyuubi was telling me the exact same thing."

"Hmm, at least he's good for something but, I just hope he's not telling you anything perverted like Jiriya would."

"Well actually he did tell me about he was getting some." Tsunade face palmed.

"Are all men perverted or what? Even you Naruto, your teachers have rubbed off on you." She finished healing him and looked into his eyes.

"Naruto, before giving up why don't you at least tell her how you feel. Sure she likes Sasuke but I know for a fact that she has feelings you Naruto but she just doesn't realize it, you need to tell her." She gave him a motherly smile.

"O.k. Baa-Chan." He smiled.

"There's the brat I know." Though Naruto had plans to tell Sakura his feelings, he wasn't going to do it just yet.

Flashback End

"Well Naruto it's just that I never thanked you for bringing Sasuke back, and for keeping your promise." Sakura said.

"It was nothing Sakura-chan."

"No, Naruto it wasn't nothing. You've always risked your life for me and I've never once thanked you, so I want to say thank you and sorry for being such a bitch to you like always punching you across the village or always belittling you. I don't deserve a friend like you." She said it quietly but Naruto could tell it was sincere.

"Sakura-Chan I would do anything for you no matter what the cost just to see you smile. You belittling me, I don't care about that. I'm used to it anyways. And besides, if anything I took it as a form of affection." He joked earning a light punch on the arm.

"Baka, you always know what to say to cheer me up." She smiled.

"It's what I do. But look let's leave all this in the past, because that's all it is; the past."

"But Naruto how can you forgive me so easily. Tsunade told me about the talk you two had after you brought Sasuke home. Naruto tensed,

"What talk?" He lied.

"Naruto don't lie to me; she told me you were depressed." Well there was no use in hiding it.

"I suppose I was."

"Look Naruto, I know you felt depressed because you saw me kiss Sasuke; but it meant nothing I was just glad that he was back. You know that I'm over him. Remember I told you so."

"Sakura, even I could tell you were lying through your teeth. Especially when you said you loved me, which just made it really obvious because you would never love me." Sakura felt bad that Naruto felt resigned to the fact that she didn't love him. But that wasn't completely true; she did feel something for him. She just wasn't sure whether she was completely over Sasuke like Naruto said, and her love for him was a type of a friendly one. That was why she could be so open around him; he was just so easy to talk to and made you feel safe and welcome. Sasuke on the other hand was quiet, calculating, and had an aura of coldness around him. However since Naruto had brought him back he had lightened up quite a bit, it seemed Naruto had finally rubbed off on him.

"Naruto, I'm sorry for causing you pain like I always have."

"You already apologized." He replied.

"Yes, but this is for everything that happened with Sasuke."

"Oh, well thank you, I guess." He lightened up a bit, just a bit. Sakura was happy he did. As soon as they finished eating they decided to leave.

"Oi old man, how much do I owe you?" Naruto asked Teuchi.

"It's on the house today Naruto. Go enjoy your date." He smiled. The two were about to leave when Sakura was called over by Ayame.

"You go on ahead Naruto; I'll be there in a minute." He gave her a nod and went to wait outside. Sakura walked over to Ayame wondering what was going to happen.

"So then Sakura," She pulled out giant cleaver from nowhere. "Are you going to be nicer to Naruto now that you know what I told you? " She asked threateningly.

"Yes, I never meant to hurt Naruto the way I did; I'm truly sorry for what I did for him." Ayame felt satisfied with the answer. Naruto poked his head in the restaurant,

"Hey, you ready yet Sakura?" He asked. Sakura stole a look towards Ayame; the cleaver was hidden behind her back while she smiled innocently at Naruto and even gave him a little wave.

"Yeah, just a second." He gave her a nod and went out again.

"Well Sakura you seem to mean what you said, I'm glad you'll treat him nicer; the guy really deserves it after all he's been through." Sakura agreed. They said their goodbyes and Sakura went outside to meet Naruto. There seemed to be a small festival going on; and Naruto without thinking grabbed her hand leading her to it. Sakura was blushing at the contact. They walked around the festival looking at different booths and some of the attractions. They watched a clown for a while laughing at his antics. Naruto looked over to see a laughing Sakura, she was glowing. He realized that he was holding her hand, he quickly let go and fell to his knees.

"Sakura please don't kill me!" She gave him a confused look,

"What? Why would I kill you?" She asked.

"Well I was holding your hand; you always punch me when I touch you." She giggled. Naruto who had his eyes closed out of fear opened them and gave her a look of confusion. She held her hand out to him,

"Just for today it's fine." She teased. Gaping he took her hand gingerly. Naruto noticed people snickering at what happened between them, and led Sakura to a different part of the festival still holding hands. He couldn't believe his luck. Eventually it was getting late so Naruto offered to walk Sakura home. As soon as they reached her house she turned around to say goodbye.

"Thank you Naruto, I had a great time."

"Yeah, I did t-" Naruto suddenly found a kunai at his neck.

"So the demon finally arrived at my home eh." A man growled. He was a little taller than Naruto and had dull pink hair in a form that resembled a cherry blossom and blue eyes with sideburns the formed into a mustache.

"Dad! Move away from him." Here Naruto was confused, this guy was Sakura's father? Upon further inspection Naruto noticed the similar hair color.

"It's time I take my revenge!" Sakura's father yelled as he plunged his kunai into Naruto's neck. Sakura tried to stop him but was too late, Naruto then poofed into smoke.

"A clone," Naruto had reappeared behind Sakura's father with his hands up. "Sir, I know I took your daughter out but is that really a reason to kill me? Naruto asked in a dry tone. He just seemed to get angrier. So Naruto pulled out a kunai.

"This happens a lot. Even though everyone likes me now, people usually get drunk and remember old memories, they lose rationality and you have this situation." He explained. It surprised her that he would be taking this so calmly, her father almost killing him and he just continues talking as if nothing's wrong.

"So then sir I believe I asked you a question?" Naruto asked receiving a death glare that he was unfazed by.

"I won't answer to a demon. And I'm not drunk!" He spat.

"Well you did just answer me by saying that you won't answer me." Naruto corrected, he seemed slightly amused by the situation.

"Smart-ass." Was Sakura's dad's reply; Naruto gave a small chuckle,

"Didn't your parents ever teach you to respect your elders? Oh that's right you don't have any do you? They must have been so disgusted to have you as a child they abandoned you." He said in obviously fake sympathy. Naruto's eyes flashed red but returned to their usual blue.

"Quite the opposite actually but that's for another time. Now that I know who they are, normally anyone who were to talk shit about my parents would get the crap kicked out of them; however you're the father of my teammate, that's the only thing keeping you out of the hospital." Naruto's voice was cold which surprised Sakura but not as much that Naruto knew who his parents were.

"Naruto who're your-"

"Like I said, another time." Sakura nodded her head; however her mind was whirring with all these new details of Naruto's life. Then a woman's voice rang out through the air.

"Kizashi! Get away from him demon!"

'Damn, who else.' Naruto thought. Sakura turned to see her mother kunai poised for blood fly past her. Naruto jumped away and made a clone ready for any attacks. Sakura wasn't sure of what to do; she wanted to help Naruto, but she couldn't fight her parents. A woman who Naruto assumed was Sakura's mother was standing next to her husband. She had shoulder length blonde hair with one bang going down her forehead with green eyes staring in hatred at him. And she was just a bit shorter than her husband. "Mebuki, you go left I'll go right." Kizashi whispered to his wife. She gave him a quick nod and they attacked. Naruto mimicked their movement and the original Naruto went after Sakura's father while the clone went to deal with her mother. However before one hit was struck Sakura grabbed her father by the collar and threw him through the door her mother had left open; she then proceeded to do the same to her mother and quickly shut the door and turned around to see Naruto looking at her in surprise.

"Why'd you do that? I could have taken them." Naruto said

"I know you could have Naruto but they're my parents, and I don't know why they were so hostile against you." Sakura replied.

"I guess it could have been some prank I pulled when I was younger or something, but nothing they would want to kill me over." He said thoughtfully.

"Well, anyways some date huh?" Sakura said changing the subject. Naruto wanted to talk more on the subject of Sakura's parents but left it be for now.

"Yeah, it was erm, interesting." They said an awkward goodbye and Sakura hurried inside before her parents' regained consciousness and Naruto turned around to leave when he heard the door open. He turned around expecting another attack but saw it was Sakura again, she rushed toward him and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "I had fun tonight, let's hang out again soon." And with that she rushed back inside leaving a dumbstruck Naruto to walk home in disbelief.

"**Heh, looks like you finally got your kiss." **Kyuubi smirked.

'What? Have you been listening the whole time?' Naruto thought surprised.

"**Yup, and by the way here's my critique, your conversational skills need work. That whole thing at Ichiraku was depressing. You got some bonus points for dressing nice and walking her home. An A+ in making yourself looking like a dumbass with the whole thing at the festival. But you saved yourself with dealing her parents oh so beautifully. All in all I would give it an A- and I'm being generous."**

"Bastard." Naruto said out loud dryly. Earning him a reproachful look from an old lady walking down the street.

Sakura looked down at her parents who were starting to regain consciousness. Kizashi looked up to find Sakura looking at him with disdain.

"Don't look at me like that." He said. He looked over to see Mebuki waking up.

"What is wrong with you, we were about to fulfill our vengeance!" She yelled.

"Vengeance for what?" Sakura asked.

"Your brother…" Kizashi said sadly.

"What?" Sakura said surprised. Her parents had told her that her older brother had died in the line of duty when she was just seven months old. She had seen a picture of him once, he had blonde hair that was slicked back and he had blue determined eyes. He actually reminded her of Naruto. She had a formal Kung Fu shirt of his hanging in her room for inspiration.

"What does Naruto have to do with him?" Sakura asked confused.

"You were just a baby when the village was attacked by Kyuubi. Your brother had just made Jounin and was sent off to fight. Your father and I were assigned to escorting civilians and had to give you to your aunt for the time being. By the time we got to the battlefield it was a losing fight. Then that… monster. Released some kind of jutsu and he was blasted in half!" Kizashi roared choking back a sob. Sakura was at a loss for words.

"B-but Naruto had no control over what had happened; you can't blame him for something that happened before he was born. It was fifteen years ago, you have to get over it." She reasoned

"You don't understand; you never saw the light fade from his eyes as you held him knowing nothing could be done. Until you have felt that weakness, you will never know the pain we went through, Sakura." Mebuki whispered. Sakura's eyes widened, she sounded just like Sasuke. Sakura thought, what would Naruto say, she almost smiled.

"Never let revenge blind you from living a happy life." She said Kizashi looked at her thoughtfully.

"Who knows Mebuki, she may have a point."

"Just stop! You never cared after he died, you just moved on…" Asami said. He looked at her in anger and shock.

"You think I didn't grieve for my son? MY son?! You weren't the only one who was devastated when he died Asami. I HAD to move on; I had you and Sakura to think about. After Hiruko died I held a kunai to my throat one day. The only thing that kept me from ending it was that you would have no shoulder to cry on; Sakura wouldn't have a father, and most importantly, I knew I had to keep his memory alive by surviving and remembering him, not how he died. However I will admit I was angry, but I let go of my anger."

"Well then why did you try to kill Naruto?" Sakura asked accusingly.

"I had momentary lapse of judgment, I just thought that maybe if he did die... Then you just might let go of your hatred." He directed the last part towards Mebuki.

"So you were going to kill Naruto just for her hatred?" Sakura said incredulously.

"If I hadn't, she would have done something stupid and wreck less." He replied.

"Such is the way of people scorned by hatred." Everybody turned around to see Naruto leaning his back against the door way.

"Naruto! How long have you been there?" Sakura said surprised.

"The whole time, I came back to make sure everything was okay."

"You!" Mebuki grabbed her kunai and went towards Naruto. Everyone lost sight of him for a split second. Mebuki felt a hand wrap around her wrist and turn it behind her back enough to stop her but not enough to hurt her.

"I was hoping your rage would have subsided by now, but I guess not." He let her go and moved back a little. Everyone thought the same thing,

'He's fast.' Mebuki grabbed her kunai and lunged again, Naruto dodged every attack she threw at him. Kizashi had had enough; he jumped forward and knocked the kunai out of Asami's hand.

"Enough! It seems everything I've said had no effect on you. I'm sorry but I can't take your hatred anymore." He walked past her and up the stairs. He came down a moment later with a storage scroll in his hand.

"I've kept this packed but, I never thought I would need it." He said with conviction.

"Where are you going!?" Mebuki not so much asked as commanded.

"I can't live like this anymore, your hatred has drifted us apart, goodbye." He walked past her and up to Sakura.

"If you need me I'll be at a hotel." Kizashi whispered. He then walked past Naruto and out the door. Mebuki had tears running down her face as she turned to Sakura and Naruto.

"This is your fault." She whispered.

"What?" Sakura said incredulously.

"This is your fault! If you hadn't brought that _thing_ here all this wouldn't have happened!" Without thinking, Mebuki reached out and smacked Sakura across the face causing her to fall to the ground. Sakura was stunned; her parents had never laid a hand on her. She was the child they would make sure to never see hurt, she was always cared for, and her parents would always make sure she was happy letting nothing bad ever come her way. Yet here she was, on the ground, cheek stinging, and parents separated. Her world was falling apart. Mebuki looked at her hand then at Sakura.

"Sakura I'm sorry!" She yelled as Sakura ran out the door in tears. Naruto spared one look at Mebuki then ran after Sakura.


End file.
